Help with a Washington Post story?

Parents Forum
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Hi! My name is Sarah Larimer. I’m a reporter with The Washington Post. I have received permission from College Confidential to post here.

I’m reaching out because I’m looking to speak with some parents for a story I’m working on about people who use College Confidential, especially those who have found the forums helpful to cope with the stress of the college application process, and those who have found it to be a community where they can both find support and offer help.

We’re searching for families whose children have applied to Ivy League schools, who can tell us a little bit about the strain of that and how they deal. I’d be so grateful to talk to you by phone, or in person, if it is possible. I’m really hoping to spend some time with families, so if you’re a user who is in the D.C. area, please let me know in the thread below.

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MODERATOR’S NOTE: This reporter has been vetted by CC, so feel free to respond in this thread or by PM.

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Why just the ivies, yet again, if I may ask?

It seems that WaPo and NYT and other elite papers just focus on the ivies and the top 20-30 LACs. The hype that generates both often misrepresents the realities most families face when applying to colleges and produces more anxiety.

The impression is that these are the “only” schools worth looking at. This is completely false.

The impression this sort of focus of the elite media makes is that these are the “only” schools with the golden tickets to happiness – nay, a decent career. This intense blinders-on focus is part of why there’s so much scrubbing around in households to start at pre-K to gain entrance to these schools.

Here are just a few other schools that are amazing and which are usually overlooked by WaPo and NYtimes writers.

Centre College
St. John’s of Annapolis and Santa Fe
St. Mary’s of Maryland
Washington College
Rhodes
Hendrix
Agnes Scott
Rose-Hulman
RIT
University of Rochester
New College of Florida
St. Lawrence
Marlboro
College of the Atlantic
Mills
Earlham

The anxiety you maybe should look into is how middle class families can afford college as they don’t qualify for need at top schools (which mainly only give need-based aid). Merit-based aid is available at mid-tier schools sometimes. In-state tuition in some places has remained fairly cheap, sometimes not, but often the cost of room and board is the real bear to confront. States seem to be able to tell people “we’ve kept tuition down” but they increase the fees of room and board and other expenses that they tack on. Tuitoin on NYState publics is a reasonable amount, but with room and board educations cost $100K about. How can a middle class or a poor family afford that?

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I’d help, it my kids (like many other posters here) did not apply to any Ivy League schools.

Why just Ivy League?

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We live in Michigan. My kids had zero Ivy envy or aspirations. One applied only to art schools, and attended one of the best: RISD. The other applied to a range of public and private colleges: 2 publics, 5 private colleges, mainly LAC’s. Enrolled at one of the best universities, University of Chicago. This was 15+ years ago. Ivy? If it’s for “buzz,” they get that from RISD and UofC.

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Ivy-bahing is a good sport on CC. But seriously, RIT and MIT are not in the same league, and I know MIT is not an ivy school, but you got the point.

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Hey all! Re: the Ivy question: actually, there are a few reasons, but a major one is the timing of when the story would come out, which is sort of inside baseball-y stuff that is probably boring. But of course, I’m interested in hearing about all sorts of experiences! It’s a super stressful thing, so please don’t be shy!

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And you think Ivy League admissions will be a better draw for your story during baseball season?

You can send me a PM if you want to. I’ll give you my kid stories, and why I still pay it forward on this site when my youngest graduated undergrad in 2010.

But there is no Ivy League story in this household. At. All.

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My daughter applied ED to one Ivy. Thankfully she was deferred, because I was really stressed about being able to afford it. CC was helpful in that without it, I wouldn’t have learned about the special program at the - distinctly non-Ivy - school that granted her a full ride scholarship.The scholarship certainly helps reduce stress!

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Both my older son applied to Harvard because I made him, since as a legacy I thought he might have a better chance there than at his first choice MIT. I was right. He got into Harvard despite telling his interviewer it wasn’t his first choice. Ultimately after much deliberation he decided that for his interests (computer science) Carnegie Mellon was a better fit. Turning down Harvard was stressful, but the application process was not - he had two good safeties (RPI and WPI) and one of them told him had been accepted with merit money before Thanksgiving.

My other son did not have quite as strong grades or scores. He applied to both Harvard and Brown. Didn’t get into either. No stress as he knew they were super duper reaches. He ended up making the difficult choice between U of Chicago and Tufts.

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I found CC shortly after D graduated from HS and too late to understand the wisdom of having a financial safety, which is IMHO one of the most important messages of CC. (We were just plain lucky that D had enough merit offers to keep us from seriously messing up our retirement.) I hang around CC even after D’s college graduation (from a non-Ivy) because it’s a great place to crowdsource everything from what to buy at Costco to the pitfalls of finding care for aging parents, and occasionally I can offer a hopefully useful piece of advice on a school or topic I know about. With a few exceptions, the CC community is wise, caring, and helpful. There are times when my friends in real-life are surely tired of my kvetching or just don’t have relevant experience to offer, and CC fills the gap.

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The Ballad of College Confidential (based on almost a decade here)

On the first of September, CC said to me,
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first of October, CC said to me,
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first of November, CC said to me,
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first of December, CC said to me,
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of January, CC said to me,
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of February, CC said to me,
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of March, CC said to me,
Can’t stand the waiting.
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of April, CC said to me,
I don’t like rejection.
Can’t stand the waiting.
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of May, CC said to me,
Will I be rescinded?
I don’t like rejection.
Can’t stand the waiting.
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of June, CC said to me,
I’ll miss my old friends.
Will I be rescinded?
I don’t like rejection.
Can’t stand the waiting.
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of July, CC said to me,
Need stuff for dorm room.
I’ll miss my old friends.
Will I be rescinded?
I don’t like rejection.
Can’t stand the waiting.
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

On the first day of August, CC said to me,
I’ll start my new life.
Need stuff for dorm room.
I’ll miss my old friends.
Will I be rescinded?
I don’t like rejection.
Can’t stand the waiting.
Must fill out the FAFSA.
I need ECs.
Help with my essay!
I need a safety.
What about the interview?
I want to apply to Ivies.

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Why not a story on why more kids should apply to UK schools, the only country who can challenge US schools in the rankings; the admission policies are on grades and/or interviews alone, and which are a MUCH cheaper and far less stressful alternative than the pantomime US admissions system. A much more interesting story than re hashing the old Ivy league nonsense.

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No Ivies here. But CC made me aware of several full tuition scholarships & one full ride scholarship our daughter qualified for based on her PSAT score and/or ACT scores (plus GPA).

CC was much more helpful than the dedicated GC at our daughter’s private high school in regards to finding schools we could actually afford. Before CC, I was largely concerned with college admissions. After CC and learning about what we’d be expected to pay, I was only concerned with affordability.

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Yes to an Ivy app, but not in DC.

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Folks, this is the story she is writing. She is not looking for story ideas, but info for THIS story. The train has left the station, if you can help her write the story she is writing, then jump in. Bashing the story is not helpful to her at this point.

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Ivy League centric stories are a dime a dozen. Immigrant kid gets into all 8 Ivies, Asian kids feel they need 200 points more on SAT’s, should legacy status count in Ivy League admissions, admissions to Ivies drop to 0%, yada yada yada… as if only the Ivy League counts… only in the minds of journo’s it seems.

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Almost everything our family knows about college admissions, we learned from CC. My first-born daughter is our experiment child, and being a student at a mid-sized public school in the South, the guidance counselor doesn’t have a lot of time to assist in the process. As hard as this is to believe, I would not have known about the CSS had I not read about it on CC. Also, one of the best moderators ever, FallenChemist (RIP – he was on the Tulane forum), was instrumental in my daughter getting a full tuition scholarship to Tulane. His encouragement was invaluable. There is so much support from CC, it is hard to describe! I will say there are some negative naysayer types, but I just ignore those! There are many wonderful people on CC!

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Our S did sort-of apply to an ivy, Brown. He didn’t like writing the essay (or any essays), so he claimed the U “lost” it and I’m not sure he ever completed the application. We were annoyed and felt he wasted the app fee, but he did get into another excellent U with good merit awards and has since graduated with an BEE with honors, so it worked out.

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Ivy league in the title=eyes on the article. People are looking for the magic formula, so people will write about the search for the magic formula. Telling people there are no magic beans of success does not sell papers :wink: